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City, businesses coordinate final plans for St. Patrick's Day tourism stampede

Beer by the cases and kegs are chilling. Hot dogs and hamburgers are stocked in quantities that would make a vegetarian blanch. And the green T-shirts and trinkets are becoming part of the daily fabric downtown.

It’s all just a hint of the frivolity and mayhem about to let loose in Savannah because St. Patrick’s Day has fallen on Saturday, giving tourists and locals alike more time to drink and party in the city’s streets.

City police, revenue officials, fire marshals and other personnel met with about 50 downtown business owners Monday morning to review some of the procedures and changes for the official two-day festival, which kicks off Friday and is expected to linger into Sunday.

Tourism and city officials expect at least 750,000 people, with more optimistic estimates anticipating a crowd of 1 million.

Among the changes this year: The fire department will keep a closer eye on occupancy rates by having marshals work specific zones.

“It will be a presence not seen before,” said Fire Marshal Craig Landolt.

He and police Lt. David Gay and Revenue Director Tom Vanderhorst cautioned owners to keep a close watch on how they track occupancy numbers, to keep their guard up for underage drinkers and fake IDs and to watch whether lines coming out of establishments block pedestrian flow.

Matt Jording, owner of Subdogs Hot Doggery, 5 W. Broughton St., welcomed the chance to go over city regulations one more time.

“This is our first one,” he said. “And we don’t want to screw anything up.”

Jording has packed every spare inch of his place with supplies and has a plan to truck in more from Hilton Head if needed. The Hot Doggery will stay open 24 hours and will serve beer until 2:30 a.m., giving them a 30-minute window to comply with a 3 a.m. deadline for serving alcohol.

This will be the first St. Patrick’s for the Boiler Room, 302 Williamson St., though owner Stephen Barnhill has worked others as a bartender. His new place has a capacity for 690, and he’s hired 12 extra bartenders for the week.

He’s prepped in the most important way, too, he said: “I’ve ordered an enormous about of liquor and beer.”